When His Opponent Is A Kid
by xXRottWeilerXx
Summary: "Don't you remember? When she was five? She told me she loved me! And she would never love another guy, now look at what's happening." Sometimes Ryoma can be too protective of his family. /Oneshot/ Rated T due to some mild suggestive scenes.


**When His Opponent Is A Kid.**

**A/N: Hi! I'm supposed to update my stories but an idea popped into my head and suddenly I was opening a new folder to type in my newest installment. Fufufufu… : ) This story was inspired by my daddy (love u daddy!) and from the title, I guess you know what's happening, right? No? Ah, I see, why don't you read this and tell me what ya think. Okay, enjoy!**

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><p>"What's your name again?"<p>

Bright amber eyes bore into the poor boy's soul, his fingers tucked into his pockets, masking the way his jaw muscles tense at the mere sight of the boy sitting across the table. Sakuno smiled at the boy reassuringly and subtly nudged her husband's rib with a finger. He didn't even flinch.

Ryoma turned his eyes towards the auburn-haired woman sitting next to him, his raised brow betraying the slight tensing of his jaw muscles yet again. His wife whom had given birth to his one and only daughter, his _only little princess_ which sat next to the sweating boy was giving him one of those look-at-me-and-you'll-definitely-melt smile and he knew he had acted a bit hostile towards his daughter's boyfriend.

Yap, his one and only daughter had a boyfriend. At the tender age of twelve.

He inwardly sighed. It was too damn young.

He was as surprised as Sakuno was when just a week ago their daughter had come home from cooking class and declared to the whole household that she had a boyfriend. But he hadn't reacted like Sakuno, whom squealed in delight and congratulated their daughter. No, he had never reacted like that. Not even close.

He was speechless. If he thought that his daughter learning how to cook at a young age worried him –especially since Sumire inherited Sakuno's clumsy side-, the idea of her having a boyfriend at the age of twelve… it just screamed bloody insane to him.

Even when the boy had come that weekend to ask their daughter out for their first date, sitting politely across the table holding hands with Sumire, he felt like screaming out in frustration.

No one dates his daughter without seeing him first.

When the boy had cleared his throat nervously, both set of eyes turned towards the silver-haired boy. Sweetly, Sakuno smiled and encouraged the boy to speak up.

"M-My name is P-Pierre Suede, sir."

Ryoma tried not to curse out loud. He settled on a scowl. _What the hell is that name?_

"You've got a strange name." He bluntly pointed out.

"Papa!" He heard his daughter scolding him from across the table.

Sakuno kept a sweet smile as she pinched Ryoma's thigh under the table. Again, he didn't flinch. She was tempted to pout when he ignored her pinch. He was never one to ignore her touches, especially in bed, but it seemed like he had grown a thicker, less sensitive skin just for that day. She swallowed and when she noticed the foreign boy's blanched face, she tried to lighten up the atmosphere.

"Um… well Pierre-kun… how did you come to know Sumire?"

The boy seemed to relax a bit as he turned to his girlfriend's mother to see the woman smiling._ Good god, her mother seems better than her grouchy dad._

"Oh… well, I was a transferred student when I met Sumire-chan."

"Sumire-_chan_?" They heard the way Ryoma said that in between his clenched teeth.

Again, Sakuno gave him that honey-please-be-nice smile and he grudgingly cleared his throat and uttered a very, _very _silent sorry. Satisfied, Sakuno smiled again at the boy.

"Where are you from? I never knew Sumire-chan was interested in foreign boys." She ended that with a wink towards her daughter whom smiled back shyly.

Ryoma tried, very hard, not to cringe at the sweet voice his wife was using, and the way both of the youngsters sitting across the table were blushing. He had no idea what his daughter saw in the boy. He had silver hair, damn it.

Pierre smiled back, just as shy as Sumire was, and replied. "I'm from Australia. My mom's a Japanese though, so when I came here I already knew how to communicate in Japanese."

Sumire nodded enthusiastically and added for the boy, holding onto his hand. "Pierre-kun talks in English with his daddy and Japanese with his mom. Isn't that neat?"

Her mother nodded, clearly impressed at the Australian boy. She nudged her still-silent husband on the shoulder.

"That's impressive, ne, Ryoma?"

Said name gave a slow nod, and decided to voice out his mind.

"Why's your hair silver?"

Sumire laughed and answered for her boyfriend. "It's genetic, papa. All the guys in his family has hair like this. It's supposed to be black, but at a certain age their hair will turn silver, like this, slowly. Pierre-kun had his hair turn completely silver last year."

For a while, Ryoma seemed impressed at the odd genetic hereditary the boy possessed, but the impression died as quickly as it had come. He didn't want his daughter to be seen dating a guy whom had silver hair.

Sakuno, again being the savior she was, clasped her hands together and beamed a delighted smile.

"That's cool, Pierre-kun!"

The boy instantly smiled back. "Really? Thank you, Sakuno-san."

Ryoma brow twitched.

His wife however, found it amusing and cheerily replied, "Call me mama!"

Another twitch.

His face turned towards his wife, his eyes conveying exactly what he was thinking at that time.

_What?_

The young boy was obviously blushing deep red, even his little girl at that point. And his wife was happily laughing looking at the two freakin' young love-birds. He nearly choked out her name but managed to refrain himself.

No way this… kid would marry his daughter. His little girl, his little angel… his little princess. HIS.

When the three had talked about school and the day when the Australian boy finally grew balls to confess to Sumire about his feelings, Ryoma kept his eyes on the boy. His gaze was calculating, but with Sakuno smiling and laughing sweetly at every damn word the boy uttered, it was no wonder the boy was easily ignoring his gaze.

"Ah, you two better hurry up now, before the fun fair gets full."

"Okay, mama. Papa, we're going now."

Woken up from his silent torment, Ryoma blinked dumbly at the two youngsters as they walked towards the door, Sakuno following behind. She turned around to mouth a 'come here' before she turned back around to hand Sumire some money and a kiss to the forehead.

Ryoma kept his gaze trained onto the boy again, and nearly missed it when Sumire called out to him to give a kiss to his cheek. She flashed him a beaming smile and turned around to walk towards the fun fair with Pierre…. Hand in hand.

He thought he was gonna die right there and then when the door closed.

Groaning, he dragged a hand down his face. Sakuno's laughter had him peek through his fingers at her.

"What?"

His wife shook her head, and walked towards the table they had been sitting on for the last thirty minutes to clean the tea cups.

"Nothing… It's just so funny."

Ryoma cracked his knuckles and tiredly slumped onto the nearest couch in sight. He was not even forty but he felt so drained.

"What's funny?"

He waited as Sakuno placed the cups into the sink and joined him on the couch in the living room to wrap an arm around her shoulders. He sighed against her neck as she curled against him, the smile she reserved just for him plastered on her face.

"It's funny that you're trying to please Sumire."

Ryoma groaned at that. "She's my only daughter, what do you expect?"

Sakuno's laughter answered for him. Of course, Ryoma was a stoic and nonchalant man on the outside but he was a big softie when it came to her and Sumire. Of course, his not-so prominent softer side was also reserved for his mother when she was around. It didn't seem like it, but it took Sakuno fourteen years of knowing and finally understanding that side of him. He never said it, his actions alone spoke of how he held Sakuno and his daughter close to him.

She gently traced her hand against his bare forearm, making Ryoma sigh almost quietly.

"You're a big softie, you know that? But you shouldn't have acted hostile towards Pierre-kun."

Ryoma tightened his hold onto Sakuno as he continued to bury his face in her auburn hair.

"I wasn't hostile. I was just pissed off."

She smiled again. "Why? He's a sweet boy."

Sakuno almost giggled when she felt Ryoma's mouth tug down into a scowl. "He has silver hair."

"That's genetic. You can't change that."

Stubbornly, the Tennis player scoffed. "They're twelve."

"I know, Ryoma. Sumire's growing up pretty fast ne?"

He grunted. "Too fast. That brat's still mada mada dane."

Sighing, Sakuno cupped his cheek and brought his face up to look at her. She was mildly surprised to see his eyes. He looked… sad, depressed… He had seldom looked at her in the eyes with those sad eyes of his. The first time had been when he had knocked on her door years back just to tell her he wanted her to stay with him. She was wearing her strawberry printed cotton pajamas when he had come at midnight. He hadn't even registered her grandmother standing behind her when he held her into his arms and told her to not go to Paris and stay with him.

That time she was twenty-two.

The second time she saw those eyes were when she had given birth to their daughter. There were some complications during birth and Sakuno had to be sent to the ICU due to massive blood loss. He was so silent when he came into her room twelve hours after their baby girl was born and he had given her those eyes. After a few comforting words from her, and a knock to the head by Nanjiroh, he was himself again. They had named their girl after Sakuno's deceased grandmother.

That was twelve years ago, and in between those years she had never seen those eyes again.

This was the third time he gave her that look. His beautiful amber eyes looked pained.

She gave him a reassuring smile and cupped his cheeks with both hands. He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.

"What is it, Ryoma?"

"It's all happening too fast… I don't like it. I hate it that someone else is holding my girl, Sakuno."

Gently, Sakuno placed a kiss to his forehead. "It's not as if he's going to marry her now."

Ryoma scowled. He had been scowling a lot, Sakuno noticed.

"But he's still her boyfriend."

"And?"

He looked like a little boy when he scowled deeper.

"That means she... loves him."

A smile etched onto Sakuno's face as she knew what was coming. "And?"

She almost laughed when Ryoma's left eye twitched. "He's a guy."

"What about it?"

Ryoma growled. "It's not fair. Don't you remember? When she was five? She told me she loved _me_. And she said there would never be another guy, now look at what's happening."

He cursed then when he heard Sakuno laugh.

"Damn, it's not funny."

Sakuno shook her head as she replied, bits of laughter still lingering in her words.

"It _is _funny! You're jealous!"

With a groan, Ryoma leaned heavily against the couch. She laughed harder when he made his next comment.

"And that brat's a nerd."

"What makes you think like that?"

Ryoma made imaginary suspenders with both hands. "He wears suspenders. And big glasses."

Sakuno pouted. "Hey, that's not nice. I used to wear glasses too you know."

Remembering the image of his wife years ago, her big glasses resting against her elegant nose bridge and her ridiculously long braids had him smirk. When he thought about it again, his wife was one of the geekiest girl he had ever met in high school. She was the perfect prefect and constantly blushed whenever a guy happened to comment on her noticeably nice long legs. And he was the cold bastard whom played tennis and often skipped class to take a nap on the school's roof top.

But one look at her, defending her loudmouthed friend from some school bullies had him smitten. He hadn't noticed it then, but after a few years and a nice punch from Momoshiro made him realize that he wanted her to stay with him.

Yeah, it sounded sappy he almost couldn't believe his luck. But that was the reality.

Suddenly remembering the matter at hand, Ryoma leaned closer towards Sakuno, a devilish smirk playing on his lips.

"But you looked way better than Pierre."

Caught off-guard by his smart remark, Sakuno blushed and slapped a hand against his forearm, making his smirk to drag wider.

"I thought I remember you telling me to get rid of those horrid glasses. And you even commented on my hair."

Ryoma gave her a lazy grin before he leaned back into the couch, sighing.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?"

Again, that look was on his face. Sakuno gently rubbed his chest when she leaned against him.

"She still loves you, you know."

He brought her closer again and kissed her firmly on the lips before her whispered a reply. "I know."

Sakuno smiled at him, and kissed him again. "And you'll still be the top on my list, Ryoma."

It took him a while for everything to sink in. Instantly, the flash of sadness in his eyes was gone. He let out a short chuckle before he buried his face into Sakuno's hair again, inhaling her scent. She smiled brightly when she felt his gentle kisses against her neck.

"Thank you, Sakuno."

Those words were whispered so softly, but she heard them. She knew already, and she was also thankful to him, for loving her, and for loving Sumire.

He was the best husband. And certainly the best daddy.

Sakuno was always, always thankful.

"You're welcome, Ryoma."

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><p><strong>AN: How was it? I know you've been wondering about the silver hair issue. It's true, my dad's a living proof of it. He lost all of his black hair when he was like… 27 or so. My cousin's turned silver-haired when he was fifteen. It's genetic, and many have mistaken my dad as my grandfather. Nope, he's not that old, he's still healthy and kicking! I don't inherit this trait, but one of my brothers has this gene. His hair's slowly being silver-fied now.**

**Hope you enjoyed this! **

**Hugs and kisses.**


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